Bingo board for the blind



March 8, 1949.

J. P. MOHLER BINGO BOARD FOR THE B LIND Filed March 22, 1946 MGMQMQWOWQQQQ" "Q9 WQ QQQQQQQQ QQ 6 m MQQ OMQQQQQQQQ O QQ G MGM"Q QQWQ,OHQQHOHQHQWQWOUQ G N w w QQQQ@QGQQQQ Q99 JEANHJlb/PIEJT m%% vim Patented Mar. 8, 1949 @FFICE BINGO BQARD FOR THE BLIND Jean l. Mohler, Oil City, Pa.

Application March 22, 1946, Serial No. 656,250

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to game apparatus particularly of a type for use in playing the wellknown game of Bingo.

The general object of this invention is to provide game apparatus which will enable those without sight to play the game entirely without aid, by sense of touch alone.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide such apparatus wherein safeguards are employed to prevent the accidental displacement of movable game pieces during the play and, at the same time, offer no resistance to the rapid and smooth passing of the fingertips over the playing surface.

A further object of the invention is to provide such apparatus whereby the caller may operate by touch alone, and may check for accuracy the board of any player who has filled the required number of spaces on his board.

Other objects of the invention will appear :35.

from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings which accompany and form a part of this specification.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a plan view of a control board or callers board embodying the principles of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section therethrough;

Figure 3 is a plan View of a players board;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged view of one of the playing pieces;

Figure 6 is a vertical section taken on the line G6 of Figure 5; and,

Figure 7 is an enlarged View of another of the playing pieces.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it] designates a board made of any suitable material, such as wood plastic, metal or composition. The board may be of any configuration, but is preferably rectangular as shown. lhe board is sufficiently thick to provide for a plurality of pockets or depressions H. The pockets are arranged in transverse rows and likewise in longitudinal rows in the board.

Above each of the pockets H is a number l2, preferably in Braille characters, to indicate the number of the pocket. Above each longitudinal row of pockets a letter I2 or other character, is placed. Thus each pocket is designated by a lettered row and a number. The Braille characters, letters and numerals alike, are raised above the surface of the board. The upstanding characters may be formed in any suitable manner,

2 but are here shown as small, beaded tacks l'3, driven into the surface of the board so that their rounded heads is project above the surface where they may be felt by the operator as he passes his hand over the board.

A plurality of playing pieces !5 are provided, equal in number to the number of pockets in the board i ll, each playing piece having a number corresponding to a number above one of the pockets. Each of the pieces l5 may also contain a letter to correspond with one of the letters E2 to indicate the particular row in which the number is located. It will be noted from Figure 5 that the playing pieces l5 are in the form of disks, flattened on. one side as at It. The disks are of a diameter to enable them to fit easily into the pockets H on the board Ml, and of such thickness that their upper surfaces will be flush with the board when the disks are in position in the pockets 5 i. The flattened disks will leave a portion of the pocket empty when the disk is in place, thus facilitating removal of the disk for the pocket. The flattened portion of the disk is always at the top so that the player may turn. the disk so as to correctly read the number.

The game also provides one or more players boards 2E3, each preferably of rectangular shape and provided with a number of pockets or depressions 2|, the pockets being so arranged that they form transverse, vertical and diagonal rows. It will be noted that the number of pockets in the board 20 is but a fraction of that in the board ill. Above each of the pockets is a number 22 corresponding to one of the numbers on the board It. Above each of the rows is a character 23, the characters being identical to and occupying the same relative positions as those on the board 10. The numbers above the pockets in a vertical row on the board 213 will be formed in that row on the board Ill which has a similar beading character. The difierent players boards 26 making up the game will contain different combinations of these numbers.

Disks 24 are provided similar to disks l5, except that disks 24 are blank, bearing no character or legend. Disks 2d have a fiattended area 25 to assist in their removal from the pockets 2! of the players board in which they are to be placed.

Each of the boards as have an enlarged depression forming a sunken storage space 26 for disks 24. The disks are placed in. the space 26 before play begins, and those not in use remain in the space during play so that they are readily available to the player and will not become scattered as the player passes his hand over the board in the manner in which Braille is read during the playing of the game.

In playing the game, the operator, or caller, will draw disks I from a container, not shown, in succession, and as he draws the disks will touch his fingers to the embossed character upon the disk and place it in the pocket H on his board having the same number, at the same time calling out the number found on the disk and the character at the head of the row on his board in which the matching pocket is found. The matching pocket and row-identifying character are found by passing his hand lightly over the board I0, feeling the numbers I2 and characters [2 with his fingertips. After the character and number are called, the other players will pass their hands over their respective boards, locating the row-indicating character, and then by running down the row determine if the number called is among those on their boards. If the number is found, the player will take one of the disks from the storage space 26 on his board and place it in the pocket found. The disk will fit substantially flush within the pocket so that the player will not displace it as he moves his hand about the board, nor will it interfere with the smooth and rapid passage of the hand over the board. Play continues in similar manner until one of the players has filled all of the pockets in one vertical, transverse, or diagonal row of five pockets, at which time he calls out and is the winner.

It is usual to check the winning players board for accuracy, and this can :be done by the player feeling those pockets which are occupied by disks and calling back the pocket and row designation of those pockets. The caller can pass his hand over his board and determine if the numbers called back are filled with disks l5. If all of the numbers called back are so filled, the players board is correct.

All of the variations of this well-known game may be played with the above-described equipment.

Although a preferred and practical embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, it is understood that various modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In game apparatus comprising boards and selectively removably mounted playing pieces, said boards having a plurality of uniformly shaped and spaced recesses therein to receive the removable playing pieces, and said playing pieces be- .ing of similar shape to said recesses for the major portion of their peripheries and of such size as to just fit within the recesses without lateral movement and with their upper surfaces disposed flush with the upper surfaces of said :boards to prevent said playing pieces from being accidentally disarranged when a hand is brushed along said upper surfaces, raised indicia provided on the upper surfaces of said boards adjacent each of said recesses for identifying said recesses by touch, whereby only raised indicia will be detectable above the plane of the upper surfaces of said boards, a minor portion of the periphery of said playing pieces being removed to form finger notches with the recesses to facilitate removal of said pieces from said recesses of said board.

JEAN P. MOHLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 88,421 Slagle Mar. 30, 1869 941,680 Aoughton Nov. 30, 1909 1,546,831 Fritz July 21, 1925 1,628,412 Lesavoy May 10, 1927 1,641,104 Solod Aug. 30, 1927 1,863,683 Bowles June 21, 1932 2,190,752 Brown Feb. 20, 1940 2,230,178 Campbell Jan. 28, 1941 2,399,041 Kleber Apr. 23, 1946 

